Leerie Speak
by Phantom Actress
Summary: How did Mary know Leerie in Mary Poppins Returns? (Sequel to Learing Leerie). One-shot.


**This is the sequel to ****_Learning Leerie. _**

**I have to thank PercieJean for promoting me to write the sequel to _Learning Leerie. _Thank you to all of you who read it! **

**I named Mary's dad, John Poppins. **

**I don't own Mary Poppins.**

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Leerie Speak

Bert and Mary were on a walk together, hand in hand, smiling, and laughing. It was getting dark, twilight was falling. The air, chilling. Their parents would be getting worried soon. But the two nine-year-olds were enjoying their time together. Neither wanted it to end.

A group of men were surrounding a lamp. They were all whistling the same tune. Mary stopped to watch them. Bert, being the good friend he was, stopped with her. Mary's face was lighting up as she watched the men, dance. They seemed to speak in a different tongue.

"Come on, mate!" one of the men said to a younger boy, "Join us in a big kick and prance!"

"Kick and prance?" Mary ask, a light giggle in her tone. "Do you know what that means, Bert?"

Her friend shrugged. "They're leeries. Leeries seem to speak a different language. I don't know what any of them mean."

"Then I'll find out," Mary decided, "But first, I'll beat you to your house!"

She ran off, laughing all the way. Bert sprinted after her. Knowing that he couldn't let Mary win. She would talk about it all night. Just to rub it in his face.

* * *

Mary couldn't find another leerie for ages. When her and her father went out on their nightly walk, Mary would skim the streets to find one. But lamplighters were scarce.

One night, on their walk, Mary heard the same song that she'd heard with Bert. Mary slipped her hand out of her father's and started running to the sound. John Poppins was stunned that Mary would run off like that. But he recovered and ran after his daughter.

"Excuse me, sir!" Mary called out to the leerie.

He turned around, making Mary have to jump out of the way so his latter wouldn't hit her. The leerie gave her a big grin. He took off his cap and gave the girl a little bow. Mary reckoned that he must be in his early 20s.

"'Ello, miss," he greeted, "Have a lamp that the leeries missed?"

"Well, if I'm not bothering you, sir, can you teach me how to speak leerie?" Mary requested.

"'Course I can," he replied, setting down his latter, "The name's Frank." He held out a dirty hand for Mary to shake.

"Mary. Mary Poppins," she replied, shaking his hand. She didn't mind how dirty it was. Mary was finally going to be able to learn leerie speak!

"Let's start from the top, Miss Poppins," said Frank, "Leerie is when you don't say the words you mean. You say something that…" he searched for the right word to say, "rhymes with it."

"So, kick and prance means dance?" Mary wondered.

"Yup. Like, hello, would be "Yellow". It's quite simple acutely." Frank was beaming with pride at his student.

John came sprinting into the scene. He was panting, but it didn't stop him from shouting,

"Mary! Mary Poppins! Where are you?"

"Right here, Papa," Mary answered in a calm tone.

"Mary! Good heavens! You scared me!" John swept his daughter off of the ground, checking for injuries. He noticed Frank. "Oh, sir, I hope that she didn't bother you from your work."

"Not a' all. Miss Poppins a lovely student. You are Mr. Poppins, am I correct?" Frank replied.

John nodded. Frank smiled wider.

"I could see the resemblance." Frank titled the end of his cap. "Good night to you. Remember Timbuctoo." He smirked at Mary before gathering up his things and taking off.

"Remember Timbuctoo?" John said to himself. _What is that suppose to mean? _He thought. Mary slid out of his embrace, reminding him about what happened earlier. "Mary," John started in a warning tone. "You know not to run off. Especially this time at night. You could have gotten kidnapped!"

"Sorry, Papa. I won't do it again," Mary promised, "Oh and Papa, "Remember Timbuctoo" means god night to you. It's leerie speak."

* * *

The next morning Mary found herself back at Bert's house. As the children chased each other around, Mary taught Bert Leerie. Bert got the hang of it quickly.

When it came to learning Leerie, children seemed to get the hang of it faster than adults.

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**I might do a third piece with Michael. Please tell me if I should!**

**Thanks for reading! Please review!**


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